Getting your homestead off the ground: Marketing Edition
Getting your homestead off the ground: Marketing Edition
Homesteading isn't all that we strive for in this simple hard life we have chosen. We also need to find a way to finance this dream without killing ourselves or landing in a mountain of debt. Much of this has us at some point thinking about selling something from our homestead to hopefully make a profit but settle for just breaking even. Why shouldn't we think of selling something? I mean we have fruits, veggies, meat, eggs, canned items, animals, and sometimes hand crafted items. Somehow, the generations before us made enough to live this way, yet many of us are lacking what they had.
I think it comes down to several things. We have smaller families (labor force), more expensive equipment, more laws and regulations than ever before, and more competition because of the internet. This forces us to stay in the rat race when our heart is very far away. The longer you are stuck in the rat race, the harder it is to get out. By design, it is a faulted system now.
-Branding: Getting your name out there seems to be the hardest part for most. I have a few ideas on that. First. you need a name and a brand so they can find you again. Choose your name carefully because it is the hardest thing to change. Then, you need a picture they can remember (stranger is better). If you ever need to change the picture, it is easy. For about 2 months print both the old picture and the new picture on everything and have a "new look" blob on there. I say 2 months to cover as much of your customer base as possible. Use the same name and picture across all platforms (labels, business cards, brochures, etc...).
-Business Cards: There are several legitimate websites that give away 250 free business cards. Take advantage of this and include one in every item you use. This makes it easy for your customers to hand your information on to someone else when they are talking about your products. Word of mouth and contact details are by far the best way to get known.
-Labels: Sticky labels on your products also help. People will see them in use and want them. Avery makes very good labels of all kinds. You can buy them at Walmart and print your information on them yourself, or you can use their design studio online and have them print them. In the long run it may be cheaper for massive amounts of the same product to be printed by them as ink does cost a ton. For small quantity items, buy the labels and print yourself. You want the product name as well as your business name and logo on these labels.
-Samples, samples, samples! Now that you have the cards and labels, you want to make small samples to get people hooked with both included. Make it just small enough to want more but not big enough to last more than 2 weeks. This seems to be the "sweet spot" to get people hooked on the item and want to purchase larger amounts. If it is too small and pretty they won't use it so you loose sales in a "pretty" item. If it is too large, the excitement for a new item will be gone come ordering time. Samples are best given to nurses, left in random shopping carts, and the local auto parts stores. They are most likely to be taken and used at these locations.
-Brochures: Now that people are getting hooked, it is time to make brochures or possibly a website. I prefer brochures because they are easier to get to your local market, can be read at ones leisure, are simple to make, not many use this method, and give one a feel for what you have available. Microsoft office and Open Office both have templates for brochures so long ago are the days of trying to figure out placement and sizes. Use color and pictures to attract the eyes. Now, if you print these at home you will forever be buying ink. I suggest you go to your local library and print them there. Mine charges 15 cents a page for color copies. Trust me, that is much cheaper than buying ink and paper. Pass them out to friends so they will get to their work places. Know any health care workers? They talk a ton! Give them a few. In their downtime, they will look. Leave a few at the library, laundry mats, doctors office, random carts at the grocery store (looks like someone else liked it and forgot to take it), mechanics, and ask if the local auto parts store will allow you to leave some on the counter. All these places may seem strange for something homesteading related, but they will get around. *There is too much competition at big feed stores, and the little ones seem only willing to help if they know you either personally or through business.
-Online: Don't want to pay for a website but still want the access? You can use Bookoo, craigslist, and now facebook. Remember when using these places that there are spammers and bots. Make sure you separate your email address and put letters between the numbers for your phone number to reduce these occurrences. While these can be effective in larger areas, they can also be very frustrating. Bookoo seems to be less frustrating in my area, but you'll have to see what works best in your area.
-Orders: Now you have a ton of orders flying in and feel discombobulated. Easy fix there too. Create a standard order form for all the info you would need to collect from the buyer. You are better off if you print 4 order forms per page. You can buy a small clipboard and keep them in your pocket or purse. If you don't have enough products for an order form, get a pocket sized pen and notebook to keep on you. This allows you to take orders no matter where you are. Then, get some dry erase boards. Put them where you can see them the most. Update them with the amount of each item you have on hand. It is easier to glance at that rather than having to find and count everything. If you have a section for what was sold, that will also help in keeping track of costs.
-Sales: While sales are a good marketing tactic, do not over use them. If you always have a sale for single items, you are devaluing your items. Why should a customer buy something at regular price if they know darn well it will go on sale next week? Now, buying 2 or more and getting a SMALL discount on a regular basis is a good idea. It promotes buying more yet not costing as much. Larger regular orders should get the larger discounts for their loyalty and to keep product moving. Loyalty cards work great! You know, those punch cards. Go back to that business card website and print the punch cards. Let's say, for every 12 dozen eggs you buy you get one dozen free. Not only does this get their loyalty to you to fill up these cards, the customer also tends to loose them and will have to start over. Punches are easy to get in any design so I suggest signing each block or buying a stamp logo. This will prevent fraud on the cards.
-Donations: I know it sounds strange to send out donations to make money, but there really are a ton of bleeding hearts out there. Give some of your brochures to police stations and let them know that you will try to help with a little if something bad happens. Let's say that someone's house burns down, you could offer boarding of their animals for 2 weeks to get them on their feet, a couple dozen eggs, nest boxes, canned goods, a small basket with candles and soap, fruit or veggie baskets, etc... After a few, you have the loyalty of the bleeding hearts. The victims and police will spread the word of how nice it was that you helped, making more people want to buy from you. Even the smallest of gestures opens up these people, you don't have to break the bank to help.
With a world of everything selling the same thing, you need to find your way to stand out of the crowd. Quality and unique marketing will help you achieve this. Never exchange quality for quantity, you will loose money in the end. For those that have had success, what helped you?
~Independent Twist
Homesteading isn't all that we strive for in this simple hard life we have chosen. We also need to find a way to finance this dream without killing ourselves or landing in a mountain of debt. Much of this has us at some point thinking about selling something from our homestead to hopefully make a profit but settle for just breaking even. Why shouldn't we think of selling something? I mean we have fruits, veggies, meat, eggs, canned items, animals, and sometimes hand crafted items. Somehow, the generations before us made enough to live this way, yet many of us are lacking what they had.
I think it comes down to several things. We have smaller families (labor force), more expensive equipment, more laws and regulations than ever before, and more competition because of the internet. This forces us to stay in the rat race when our heart is very far away. The longer you are stuck in the rat race, the harder it is to get out. By design, it is a faulted system now.
-Branding: Getting your name out there seems to be the hardest part for most. I have a few ideas on that. First. you need a name and a brand so they can find you again. Choose your name carefully because it is the hardest thing to change. Then, you need a picture they can remember (stranger is better). If you ever need to change the picture, it is easy. For about 2 months print both the old picture and the new picture on everything and have a "new look" blob on there. I say 2 months to cover as much of your customer base as possible. Use the same name and picture across all platforms (labels, business cards, brochures, etc...).
-Business Cards: There are several legitimate websites that give away 250 free business cards. Take advantage of this and include one in every item you use. This makes it easy for your customers to hand your information on to someone else when they are talking about your products. Word of mouth and contact details are by far the best way to get known.
-Labels: Sticky labels on your products also help. People will see them in use and want them. Avery makes very good labels of all kinds. You can buy them at Walmart and print your information on them yourself, or you can use their design studio online and have them print them. In the long run it may be cheaper for massive amounts of the same product to be printed by them as ink does cost a ton. For small quantity items, buy the labels and print yourself. You want the product name as well as your business name and logo on these labels.
-Samples, samples, samples! Now that you have the cards and labels, you want to make small samples to get people hooked with both included. Make it just small enough to want more but not big enough to last more than 2 weeks. This seems to be the "sweet spot" to get people hooked on the item and want to purchase larger amounts. If it is too small and pretty they won't use it so you loose sales in a "pretty" item. If it is too large, the excitement for a new item will be gone come ordering time. Samples are best given to nurses, left in random shopping carts, and the local auto parts stores. They are most likely to be taken and used at these locations.
-Brochures: Now that people are getting hooked, it is time to make brochures or possibly a website. I prefer brochures because they are easier to get to your local market, can be read at ones leisure, are simple to make, not many use this method, and give one a feel for what you have available. Microsoft office and Open Office both have templates for brochures so long ago are the days of trying to figure out placement and sizes. Use color and pictures to attract the eyes. Now, if you print these at home you will forever be buying ink. I suggest you go to your local library and print them there. Mine charges 15 cents a page for color copies. Trust me, that is much cheaper than buying ink and paper. Pass them out to friends so they will get to their work places. Know any health care workers? They talk a ton! Give them a few. In their downtime, they will look. Leave a few at the library, laundry mats, doctors office, random carts at the grocery store (looks like someone else liked it and forgot to take it), mechanics, and ask if the local auto parts store will allow you to leave some on the counter. All these places may seem strange for something homesteading related, but they will get around. *There is too much competition at big feed stores, and the little ones seem only willing to help if they know you either personally or through business.
-Online: Don't want to pay for a website but still want the access? You can use Bookoo, craigslist, and now facebook. Remember when using these places that there are spammers and bots. Make sure you separate your email address and put letters between the numbers for your phone number to reduce these occurrences. While these can be effective in larger areas, they can also be very frustrating. Bookoo seems to be less frustrating in my area, but you'll have to see what works best in your area.
-Orders: Now you have a ton of orders flying in and feel discombobulated. Easy fix there too. Create a standard order form for all the info you would need to collect from the buyer. You are better off if you print 4 order forms per page. You can buy a small clipboard and keep them in your pocket or purse. If you don't have enough products for an order form, get a pocket sized pen and notebook to keep on you. This allows you to take orders no matter where you are. Then, get some dry erase boards. Put them where you can see them the most. Update them with the amount of each item you have on hand. It is easier to glance at that rather than having to find and count everything. If you have a section for what was sold, that will also help in keeping track of costs.
-Sales: While sales are a good marketing tactic, do not over use them. If you always have a sale for single items, you are devaluing your items. Why should a customer buy something at regular price if they know darn well it will go on sale next week? Now, buying 2 or more and getting a SMALL discount on a regular basis is a good idea. It promotes buying more yet not costing as much. Larger regular orders should get the larger discounts for their loyalty and to keep product moving. Loyalty cards work great! You know, those punch cards. Go back to that business card website and print the punch cards. Let's say, for every 12 dozen eggs you buy you get one dozen free. Not only does this get their loyalty to you to fill up these cards, the customer also tends to loose them and will have to start over. Punches are easy to get in any design so I suggest signing each block or buying a stamp logo. This will prevent fraud on the cards.
-Donations: I know it sounds strange to send out donations to make money, but there really are a ton of bleeding hearts out there. Give some of your brochures to police stations and let them know that you will try to help with a little if something bad happens. Let's say that someone's house burns down, you could offer boarding of their animals for 2 weeks to get them on their feet, a couple dozen eggs, nest boxes, canned goods, a small basket with candles and soap, fruit or veggie baskets, etc... After a few, you have the loyalty of the bleeding hearts. The victims and police will spread the word of how nice it was that you helped, making more people want to buy from you. Even the smallest of gestures opens up these people, you don't have to break the bank to help.
With a world of everything selling the same thing, you need to find your way to stand out of the crowd. Quality and unique marketing will help you achieve this. Never exchange quality for quantity, you will loose money in the end. For those that have had success, what helped you?
~Independent Twist
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